Michael Buble's Christmas album is a hit in Aussie households this year. Source: Supplied

MICHAEL Buble is the most popular festive soundtrack at homes across Australia this year.

Buble's Christmas album sold a mammoth 63,860 copies last week, aided by a Channel 7 TV special.

That was more than double No.2, Pink's The Truth About Love, which sold 27,876 copies.

Buble has sold over 120,000 albums this month alone - with more expected in the days leading up to Christmas.

Merry Christmas, Baby by Rod Stewart is another popular festive-themed album. Picture: UMA

Christmas, which was originally released last year, is now six times platinum.

It was the second-highest selling album of 2001 in Australia, behind Adele's 21.

This week's ARIA chart features an influx of festive releases.

Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta are raising money for charity with their new Christmas album.

Rod Stewart's Merry Christmas, Baby sold 23,028 copies, the So Fresh Songs for Christmas compilation sold 9,743 units, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas album (first released in 1994) sold 6,058 copies and the John Travolta/Olivia Newton-John duets set This Christmas sold 2,557 copies.

A surprisingly low entry was Delta Goodrem's Christmas, an EP of festive songs done in bluegrass style, which sold just 2399 copies to enter the singles chart at No.67.

The chart wasn't a great one for X Factor contestants - Samantha Jade's self-titled album dropped from No.3 to No.13 after just a week on the chart, while the TV show's boy band The Collective missed the Top 10, debuting at No.11 with their first EP - featuring a cover of Wham's Last Christmas.

Next week's ARIA chart will include the crucial pre-Christmas and post-Christmas sales - it is compiled on Thursday nights.

CHRISTMAS ALBUM BUYING GUIDE

Michael Buble - ChristmasThere's a reason this album has been the Christmas release du jour for two years running now - Buble was built to sing Christmas songs. He spent a long time getting it just right and he sounds like he's genuinely enjoying himself, rather than rushing something out for some quick Chrissy cash.

She and Him - A Very She and Him ChristmasWhen she's not being all hipster and anxious on New Girl, Zooey Deschanel is in this folky indie duo with M Ward. And their Christmas album - released last year - is a cracker. It's bursting with mellow but harmonic versions of Baby, It's Cold Outside, Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree and I'll Be Home for Christmas.

Tracey Thorn - Tinsel and LightsThe gorgeous voice of Everything But the Girl provides an alternative to the overblown Christmas album featuring the same old songs. Her record takes in tracks by Sufjan Stevens, the White Stripes and Joni Mitchell that at least mention winter or snow. Schmaltz and cheesy sentiment is swapped for genuine emotion, especially on a handful of originals that add a bit of realness to the Christmas song genre.

Bing Crosby & Frank Sinatra - Christmas with Bing and FrankComprehensive 50-song compilation that shows where Buble got all his moves from - there's everything from Let It Snow to Deck the Halls; Bing duets with Ella Fitzgerald (unlike on the new Rod Stewart album he did it in person) and the Andrew Sisters, and there's a handful of songs where Bing and Frank share a microphone.

So Fresh - Songs for Christmas 2012Skip past Justin Bieber and Maroon 5 covering John Lennon's Happy Xmas (War is Over) and enjoy some real Christmas classics like Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas is You, Wham's Last Christmas, Elvis' Blue Christmas, Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas, Johnny Cash doing Little Drummer Boy, ABBA's Happy New Year plus Christmas crooners Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby and Christmas originals from Weezer and the Killers. If only it had the ultimate Christmas song - Fairytale of New York by the Pogues and Kirsty MacColl - but you can download that as an antidote to most of the songs you hear this time of the year.

A NOTE ABOUT RELEVANT ADVERTISING: We collect information about the content (including ads) you use across this site and use it to make both advertising and content more relevant to you on our network and other sites.